Robredo won’t protest Marcos’ appointment

Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo will not object to an appointment to the Cabinet of former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., her camp said on Monday.

Georgina Hernandez, the spokesperson for the Office of the Vice President, noted that Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President.

Robredo beat Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential race by 263,473 votes but Marcos is protesting his defeat before the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

“We accept the fact that appointing members of the Cabinet depends on the President’s decision, which will be respected by Vice President Robredo,” Hernandez said.

Marcos can be appointed to a Cabinet post after May 9 or a year after the one-year ban on 2016 losing candidates.

He has said he is willing to serve the Duterte administration in whatever capacity.

“As far as we are concerned, we are just hoping that the credibility, competence and the vision of the person will be the ones considered [in naming appointees],” Hernandez said.

Should Robredo change her mind, she can file a formal protest against Marcos’ appointment before the Commission on Appointments (CA), which confirms presidential appointees for Cabinet posts.

A confirmation of an appointment can only happen if all 25 members of the commission composed of lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives unanimously vote for the confirmation of a presidential appointee.

Without the CA members’ unanimous approval, a presidential appointment will be bypassed, meaning put on hold, or rejected.

Once a presidential appointment is rejected by the commission, the President will have to replace his appointee.

The CA already rejected the appointment of Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay because Yasay lied about his acquisition of an American citizenship in the 1980s before the commission.

If Marcos passed up on a Cabinet post, he could still return to a national elective post in the 2019 polls.

Running for an elective post in 2019 before the resolution of his protest against Robredo, however, would be tantamount to Marcos dropping his protest.

1 Comment

The Philippines dragging out a investigation of who really won the Vice President election.
Everyone already knows that Comelec and Smartmatic cheated but they are moving at their usual snails pace to allow the guilty to coverup their cheating.

After the coverup is completed the court will rule that there is a lack of evidence.

Ever wonder why the Philippines is the bottom of the barrel in Asia ? Nah, me either